It’s likely Coca-Cola has learnt from this and is keen to avoid being surpassed by healthier alternatives.
“This area really is a convergence between the consumer advertising market and corporate reputation management,” Rich says.
“The ethical dimension of corporate brands is something consumers unquestionably want to engage with and it’s something that other stakeholder groups like seeing too. From a shareholder point of view, they don’t want their investment values to dive off a cliff because the company’s growth can only go downward because of increasing regulation.
“This is an issue across a lot of different categories – from alcohol to fast food. And it’s not just socially aware urban elites who are driving this agenda. They’re becoming mainstream values.
“The implication for Coca Cola is that unless they’re prepared to deal with these issues head on and equip consumers to make educated choices, not only are they negating their ability to engage with these issues on a regulatory level, but they’re also writing themselves out of the debate.
“Staying in that debate is important. You don’t want people to be entirely frightened off a product that, when consumed moderately, is OK.”
And that, more or less, is what Coca Cola is saying.
When Fairfax queried whether the ads were ‘weight-washing’, Coca-Cola Australia group marketing manager Donna Mulholland said the company has been doing things “in the background” on the issue for some time.
“I guess what’s different today is we’re going out and talking about it because we think we can be part of the solution.”
Myriam Robin is a media reporter at Crikey. She’s an economics graduate who previously reported on business for LeadingCompany and SmartCompany.
